New year’s resolution season is creeping closer — and in Winnipeg, national and local fitness brands are opening new doors amid what a Manitoba association deems to be a fitness boom.
Crunch Fitness, a low-cost American chain, accepted members for its first day open Dec. 13. Meanwhile, The Gang Fitness (formerly called the Fit Girl Gang) is renovating its second Winnipeg gym; it’s secured two spaces of its own over the past year.
“I do think that we are in a really positive (place) right now,” said Stephanie Jeffrey, executive director of the Manitoba Fitness Council.
JOHN WOODS / FREE PRESS
Johanna Chambers, owner of The Gang Fitness, says her members prefer in-person instruction.
The council represents around 750 Manitoba fitness instructors and personal trainers. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it clocked a 20 per cent closure rate of Winnipeg gyms and an exodus of trainers.
The pandemic was difficult — gyms shuttered and reopened based on government mandates — and the following years were “really hard,” Jeffrey said.
Most local gyms hadn’t surpassed 75 per cent of their pre-pandemic registrations into 2023, Jeffrey said. But in 2024, the return has been strong, she said.
“Our door has just been … springing open on a daily basis with new people who are interested in getting into the industry.”
The council’s job board is regularly filled with postings; instructors are being asked to teach additional classes, Jeffrey said. She pointed to social connection and a post-pandemic emphasis on health as reasons for the rebound.
“I think there’s just a shift in desire for more human connection and being a part of something,” echoed Johanna Chambers, owner of The Gang Fitness.
Her strength training-focused company, which caters to female and non-binary clients, rented hours of space in three gyms until this year. Now it calls two of its three locations its own.
The Gang Fitness launched a training program for members — three sessions per week for 14 weeks — in 2022. It lost 60 per cent of its clientele; they were used to a different format, Chambers recalled.
Still, the program grew to a point where the business needed different time slots to accommodate patrons. (The Gang Fitness also required a space where other businesses weren’t disturbed by the cheering and music, Chambers noted.)
She opened her first gym, which she leases, at 1224 Chevrier Blvd. this September. Chambers also locked down the second floor of 51 Heaton Ave. and is midway through renovations.
She counted 50 in-person clients during 2022 sessions. This past fall, she had 300 registrants. She’s projecting 450 people for a session starting in January.
“Social connection is so much of a bigger reason why people go to the gym,” Jeffrey said. “The Gang Fitness is really focusing on that.”
Chambers launched a fitness app in 2022, but it didn’t gain the traction she’d hoped for and it ended with a faulty coding incident.
As a result, Chambers surveyed her members and found they desired in-person instruction, which led to the strength training program. She’s leaning into in-person: she has a number of free training sessions, shown on The Gang Fitness website, to draw more members.
Winnipeg was the latest destination in Crunch Fitness’s Canadian expansion plan. The New York-based brand is aiming for 50 Canadian sites by the end of 2025; by the end of October, it had around 30.
Crunch Fitness didn’t respond to questions by print deadline.
Gregory Liverpool showed up Dec. 13 for the soft launch. He’d expected to walk through the doors of 143 Nature Park Way much earlier; the company previously announced a May opening, but passed the deadline.
“Communication could’ve been a lot better,” Liverpool said, adding there were few people inside when he visited.
Crunch Fitness’s prices attracted him: memberships range from $9.99 to $32.99 monthly. Classes, group training and tanning are among the offerings at the 25,000 square-foot site.
“As far as price goes, it’ll be pretty hard to compete with that,” said Paul Taylor, owner of Brickhouse Gym.
He opened a 13,000-sq.-ft. gym at 1146 Waverley St. last year, a third Brickhouse location in Winnipeg.
Taylor said he hasn’t seen a massive increase in customers since the pandemic; his latest site drew new faces, but the two other locations lost some members during COVID.
Home gyms were created during lockdowns and the cost of living is higher, Taylor noted: “Gyms are probably one of the (memberships) that, if people are tight with money … they probably cancel.
“Things are fairly stable. I wouldn’t say that they’re booming.”
Brickhouse Gym would be further ahead on paying growth-related debt if it hadn’t had to pay pandemic-related debt first, Taylor said.
Statistics Canada tracked a year-over-year increase in fitness and recreational sports centres across the country last year: 9,493 locations in June of 2023, up from 9,064 the June prior.
Fitness centre operating revenue neared $4.3 billion in 2022. The number was slightly lower than the $4.5 billion recorded nationally in 2019, but up from 2021’s $3 billion.
gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
Gabrielle Piché
Reporter
Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle.
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